From the article:
"Mr. Udin, a former city councilman, left because he wants to supply slot machines to Pennsylvania casinos and because he was working alongside one of the casino applicants, Don Barden."

Udin and Franco are working for IoC competitors, These two individuals have a lot of credibility in the Hill.

IoC needs to start lining up local support from the Wylie Ave - Center Ave community. They're way behind in this regard.

bill from turtle creek wrote:I thought Udin was one of the Hill guys who supported Capri. He was at one of the news conferences.

Udin is just not very business savy, he's a politician, not a businessman. He wants to be one of the distributors of the Slots machines themselves, yet, he's working for Barden. Doesn't sound like a very successful strategy unless Barden wins the license which doesn't look likely.

bill from turtle creek wrote:I thought Udin was one of the Hill guys who supported Capri. He was at one of the news conferences.

Udin is just not very business savy, he's a politician, not a businessman. He wants to be one of the distributors of the Slots machines themselves, yet, he's working for Barden. Doesn't sound like a very successful strategy unless Barden wins the license which doesn't look likely.

He wants to "sell" slots machines because it will be a friggin cash-cow for whoever signs on as a "distributor" in Pennsylvania. It is a portion of the law many people are trying to change because it is giving these politicains another way to make money off this legislation. They are forcing slots machine manufacturers to sell the machines through distributors in PA. THERE ARE NO DISTRIBUTORS IN PA!!!! They need to create that industry by buying the machines and reselling them at a mark-up to the casinos. No wonder Udin had the bright idea to become a slots machine distributor. There is another politician who wants to get into distribution of the machines as well. I forget the name right now. From what I understand, they are only giving out a few of these "distributor licenses" as well, and may define territories! Politics in PA stinks. Plain and simple!

bill from turtle creek wrote:I thought Udin was one of the Hill guys who supported Capri. He was at one of the news conferences.

Udin is just not very business savy, he's a politician, not a businessman. He wants to be one of the distributors of the Slots machines themselves, yet, he's working for Barden. Doesn't sound like a very successful strategy unless Barden wins the license which doesn't look likely.

He wants to "sell" slots machines because it will be a friggin cash-cow for whoever signs on as a "distributor" in Pennsylvania. It is a portion of the law many people are trying to change because it is giving these politicains another way to make money off this legislation. They are forcing slots machine manufacturers to sell the machines through distributors in PA. THERE ARE NO DISTRIBUTORS IN PA!!!! They need to create that industry by buying the machines and reselling them at a mark-up to the casinos. No wonder Udin had the bright idea to become a slots machine distributor. There is another politician who wants to get into distribution of the machines as well. I forget the name right now. From what I understand, they are only giving out a few of these "distributor licenses" as well, and may define territories! Politics in PA stinks. Plain and simple!

Understood. The legislature just rewrote that provision but kept the concept intact. They're touting it as a jobs creation issue.

None-the-less, if they'll be more than one distributor, and if your FC or IoC and Udin had worked for Bardens proposal, wouldn't you be trying to steer business to another supplier if you were FC or IoC?

ExPatriatePen wrote:None-the-less, if they'll be more than one distributor, and if your FC or IoC and Udin had worked for Bardens proposal, wouldn't you be trying to steer business to another supplier if you were FC or IoC?

Perhaps. But, if they limit the distributors and define territories, they may not have a choice. And, that to me is the crux of the issue. The casino operators should be able to buy the machines from whoever they want, at the best price they can find...NOT be forced to buy them from a PA politico who decided to become a distributor to reap a forced mark-up reward.

Pitts wrote:Perhaps. But, if they limit the distributors and define territories, they may not have a choice. And, that to me is the crux of the issue. The casino operators should be able to buy the machines from whoever they want, at the best price they can find...NOT be forced to buy them from a PA politico who decided to become a distributor to reap a forced mark-up reward.

Forcing a purchase from a single distributor would be insane. Of course having only a half dozen or so makes the market ripe for collusion anyway so...

Sounds like something our local Pols would do. PA would still be a great place if they weren't shoving every piece they could into their own pockets... Hey, that's it! Tell the authorities in Florida that the man they're looking for in the 'Puppy Theft' is probably a Western Pa member of Rendells Mafia!